The boys meet was a high-stakes duel between Truckee sophomore Kaikea Crews and Boulder City senior AJ Pouch. Each set two individual state records in a series of back-and-forth blows, but it was Crews’ Truckee team that came through with an 8-point victory.

2018 CIF – Southern Section Division 1

After diving got things started at the 2018 CIF-Southern Section Division 1 Championships on Tuesday, swimming got underway on Thursday with preliminary heats of all events. The finals will be contested on Saturday, May 12th. Below, check out recaps for both the girls and boys prelim races in Riverside.

Girls

The big story on the girls side was the performance of Santa Margarita, as they took the top seed in eight of eleven events, including all three relays.

They started it off in the 200 medley relay, as the team of Ella Ristic(26.08), Isabelle Odgers (29.09), Mia Ristic (25.39) and Marriott Hoffmann (23.09) combined for a time of 1:43.65, earning them the top seed by over two seconds ahead of Woodridge (1:45.89). In the 200 free relay, Hoffmann (23.36) combined with Samantha Shelton (23.70), Mackenzie Degn (22.98) and Anicka Delgado (22.74) as they missed the Division 1 record by four tenths in 1:32.78. Shelton, Degn, Delgado and Miranda Renner combined for the top time by four full seconds in the 400 free relay, posting a time of 3:23.58.

Ayla Spitz of Newport Harbor took a pair of top seeds in the 200 free (1:46.58) and 500 free (4:48.03), with Santa Margarita’s Ristic (Ella) and Degn sitting 2nd in each. The other top seed of the day went to Ventura sophomore Tea Laughlin, who knocked 1.44 seconds off her seed time to take the top spot in the 100 back (52.80). She leads the field by 1.45 seconds.

Boys

While Santa Margarita dominated the girls side, the boys had a more even spread of top seeds emerge. Loyola and Crespi led the way with three each, and Northwood had two.

Loyola was led by junior Connor Lee, who took the top seed in the 100 fly by over a second in 47.33. Despite not competing in the 100 free, he led off their 400 free relay in 44.71, a time that would’ve been fast enough for the top spot in the individual event, as the team ended up qualifying 1st in 3:03.82. He also qualified 3rd in the 50 free in 20.62, where Servite junior Christian Martinez (20.55) leads the way.

Zach Van Zandt and Hayden Liu led the way for Crespi, with Van Zandt snagging the top spot in the 200 free (1:38.42) and Liu doing the same in the 200 IM (1:49.81). They also head into the 200 free relay final as the top seed, as Van Zandt and Liu combined with Jack Chen and Sergey Ternov for a time of 1:23.82.

Northwood put up the number one time in the 200 medley relay, .02 ahead of Loyola at 1:32.79, and also have Henry Wu leading the way in the 100 breast in 55.12.

Michael Brinegar, coming off an impressive weekend at Open Water Nationals, leads the way in the 500 free for Tesoro (4:22.74), and Aliso Niguel’s Sean Slusiewicz leads a pack of four who went 45-point in the 100 free at 45.33.

About James Sutherland

James formerly competed for the Laurentian Voyageurs in Sudbury, Ontario, specializing in the 200 free, back and IM. He finished up his collegiate swimming career in February of 2018, placing 11th at the OUA Championships in the 200 IM, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in economics in May. He …